Transcript for Nelson Mandela: World Awaits the Outcome of his Hospital Visit

Now to a nation on edge. Waiting for word on nelson mandela. The frail former president of south africa is in the hospital again, the 94-year-old is a national and international icon and abc's ron claiborne as we said earlier is in pretoria this morning with the very latest. Ron, good morning to you, sir. Reporter: Hey, good morning to you, dan. I am outside the private hospital where where believe nelson mandela is. No update on his condition. The last word we had which came yesterday he was responding well to treatment and that he had had breakfast and had eaten breakfast in his hospital room, responding well to treatment for a lung infection. It was the third time that he's been hospitalized since going back into december and despite those somewhat succinct and some maddeningly vague government announcements about his health THERE HAVE BEEN SOME COMMENTSiwF Alluding to his mortality. The president of south africa saying that among the zulu, the expression going home is another way of saying somebody has passed away. Nelson mandela's grandson saying that they are under no illusions. His words given his age hen his condition. Winnie mandela, his second and former wife saying yesterday asking the public to pray for nelson mandela. These could, of course, be interpreted as preparatory comments to prepare the public for the passing of nelson mandela. Intellectually people know at the age of 94 with a lung infection, this is a serious condition, but emotionally when he passes away, whenever that is, it will be a tough time. A real jolt for the people in this country, but, dan, again, the official word is that nelson mandela is said to be improving INZt A HOSPITAL HERE PROBABLY THE One right behind me in pretoria. Easy to read into some of those comments for sure. A lot of people worried about what's going on in pretoria. Ron, great to have you there on that story.

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